


You Still Have All of Me

by ChelleLeigh1917



Category: The White Queen (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-31
Updated: 2013-07-31
Packaged: 2017-12-22 00:51:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/906957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChelleLeigh1917/pseuds/ChelleLeigh1917
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>post-ep to episode 7</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Still Have All of Me

Anne woke slowly, opening her eyes, she could see it was still the middle of the night. The candles had not burned out completely, the fire still burned in the hearth. She stretched her arm out to touch Richard, but was not really surprised when she found his side of the bed empty. It had been the same for days. Since George's execution, she'd often woke alone in the middle of night. Most of the time, she left him alone. Anne knew her husband well enough to know, he needed the time alone. But she also knew he was grieving, and due to the circumstances, it was a grief that had to be kept very private. She threw the covers back, shivering until she found her dressing gown. She went in search of her husband, and it was not long until she found him sitting by the fire in the outer chamber. She stood watching him for a long moment, he was staring morosely into the fire. There was a decanter of white wine and a glass on the table next to him. He had not touched any red wines since George's death. 

"Richard?" She said softly. She knew if she did not speak, it was unlikely he'd notice her presence at all. 

He turned, looking back at her a little startled. "You should be asleep." He murmured. 

"I woke, and you were gone. I was concerned." She moved over to stand behind the chair. She leaned down and wrapped her arms around his neck. 

"Couldn't sleep." He replied. "It seemed all I could do was toss and turn. And I had no wish to disturb your rest." He leaned his head down a bit, kissing both of her hands. 

"Sometimes it does help to talk." She said softly. She was subconciously echoing his own words to her after Isabel's death. 

Richard laughed just a bit. "I do believe those are the exact words I said to you after Isabel's death."

"And you were right." She said softly, kissing the top of his head. 

He took a deep breath, and then patted his leg, indicating for her to come around and sit on his lap. When she was in front of him. Richard reached up and gently pulled her onto his lap. He busied himself for a moment, by making sure her dressing gown was wrapped securely around her. Anne hid a smile at that, he was always so concerned in the winter that she stay warm. She was quiet, knowing that when he was ready, he would speak. 

"I keep thinking of George, not as he was at the end, but when we were boys." He said very softly. "There's only three years between us, so we grew up together. He was my older brother, my self-appointed protector at times. When Mother sent us to Burgundy when I was eight, George took care of me. There were times I resented him for it. After all, I was eight, practically grown up in my own eyes." Richard looked over at Anne, grinning in rememberance for just a moment. 

As he'd been speaking, Anne had wrapped her arm around his neck, and tangled her fingers in the hair at the back of his neck. She sensed he didn't need her to speak right now, there was little she could have said at any rate. 

Richard took her other hand in his, tracing his finger around her slender wedding band. He gathered his thoughts for a moment before speaking again. "I find myself wondering when it all changed for George. When he decided he was the one who should be king. There's only one answer I can find." He said softly. 

"When Edward married." She said softly. 

"Yes." He murmured. "When he married. And the havoc that marriage has caused...." He shook his head. "But I need not tell you that."

"No." She shook her head. 

Richard was quiet for a bit. "I'm not certain I can forgive Edward. My faith tells me that I must, but I know it will be difficult." 

Anne reached up, brushing his hair back. "You cannot let hatred and unforgiveness consume you." She said softly. "You're the one hurt by it in the end."

"I don't hate him. Edward is my brother...my only remaining brother." He said ruefully. "What I don't understand, is why now? George was half-mad with the loss of Isabel. His rantings were clearly those of someone whose mind was not right. And why not allow Mother and I to see George before the end? Why not give him the comfort of knowing some of his family still cared? Why not give us the comfort of being able to say goodbye?"

Anne said nothing. She knew his questions were rhetorical. She didn't have the answers to them. The only person who did was Edward, and somehow she doubted he would answer if asked. 

"Since France, it has seemed everything I've ever believed in has been shaken. I've questioned everything and everyone in my life." He said softly. He reached for her hand, again tracing his finger over her wedding band. He lifted her hand to his mouth, kissing it. "I've found much of what I believed to have been built on shifting sands. The only thing I've found to be solid is us, and you are the only person who is solid." He said earnestly. 

Anne looked up at him, his eyes were a bit wet with tears, and there were a few tears starting to fall down her cheeks. Richard reached out, and immediately wiped them away. She took a deep breath before speaking. "My mother...."

"I know." He said softly. "You forget the guards outside her chamber are my men. They did report that conversation to me." 

"They did?" She said, just a little surprised. 

He nodded, leaning in and lightly kissing her. "For the first few months of our marriage, I did forget about the Papal dispensation. When we married, my utmost concern was protecting you from George's schemes." He kissed her shoulder then. "And I'm certain you remember what the first months of our marriage were like." 

Anne was certain she was blushing when she looked up and met his eyes. When Richard grinned at her, she knew she was blushing. "Yes, I do." She murmured. 

"When you told me that you were with child, that's when I remembered to send to Rome for the dispensation. It arrived a few days after our Edward was born. I will show it to you in the morning." 

She shook her head. "You do not have to."

"I want to." He said firmly, pulling her down so her head lay against his shoulder. He turned his head, kissing her forehead. "The night I asked you to marry me, I said I would be a true husband to you because I love you. Those words are just as true tonight as they were then." He said softly. 

"I don't remember a time, I didn't love you." She said softly. "You remember that my father always planned for us to marry." She felt him nod, as she continued. "Back when everything was going wrong, everytime my father would mention a marriage for me, I would hopefully ask if it was to be you. Then I loved you with the love of an innocent girl, who had known little pain in her life. Now, I love you with the love of a woman who has been through trials, has felt abandoned by everyone, except you." 

Richard closed his eyes. By an unspoken agreement, they spoke little of her past. Every so often though, she would reveal small things to him that again would fuel his anger at her father and at Lancaster. "I will not abandon you." He promised softly. 

"I know that." She replied. 

Richard kissed her softly. "We should go back to bed." He said softly. "The fire is burning low, and I can better see that you are warm, piled under the covers of our bed." 

Anne laughed softly, as she got up. Richard's continual need to see that she was warm during the winter months was a constant source of amusement to her. She'd never once complained to him of being cold. After all, she'd spent most of her childhood in Yorkshire, just as he had. 

As he closed the door to their bedchamber, Richard reached for her and started to undo the braid her hair was currently in. Anne laughed softly, as she realized exactly how he intended to see that she was warm. She leaned up, kissing him; having no complaints about his plans at all.


End file.
